Author: PeppermintPatty09
Title: What Makes a Family
Rating: T
Fandom: Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice
Pairings/Characters: Addison/Meredith, Violet/Charlotte, Arizona/Callie, Naomi/Sam, Izzy/Dell, Alex/Lexie and George/April. Past mentions of: Meredith/Derek and Addison/Mark
Genre: Romance and Family
Summary: A/U; Single moms Addison Montgomery and Meredith Grey start a friendship through their young daughters, which develops into more. This is pretty much a fluffy, romantic, family centric story with slight angst and drama.
Disclaimer: The characters of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice are proudly owned by Shonda Rhimes, production company ShondaLand, and broadcast station ABC. No copyright infringement is intended. Alyssa Harper Grey and Ella Rose Forbes Montgomery are my own.
Authors Note: If the idea of two women or men loving each other and are in a romantic relationship is against your views, please look elsewhere. All mistakes are my own.
Chapter Thirteen
Confessing
Meredith slipped on her black dress boot, she zipped them up and made her way back into the bathroom. She looked over her appearance, giving herself a shrug of acceptance. It wasn't her best look but it sure as hell wasn't her worst.
It was Wednesday - her date with Finn.
"Who goes out on a date on a Wednesday?" Meredith mused.
Shaking her head, she resumed getting ready. Finn would be picking her up at seven for a causal date of pizza, beer and wings at a sport's bar. Meredith did like that idea. She wasn't big on romantic restaurants and moonlit walks in the park for a date. She'd rather stay home, order food or make it, find a nice movie to watch and cuddle. That was her kind of date, simple, intimate and relaxing. And that's exactly what Addison, Ally and Ella were doing tonight while she tried to enjoy her time.
Her three girls decided they were going to order Chinese food, bake cookies and watch a movie. Meredith wished she could be apart of it. She could picture it now.
Her and Addison would share a carton of chicken lo-mien and kung pao chicken. The girls would order chicken fried rice and chow mien. They would also order a carton of egg rolls, that Ella and Ally would always fight over the last one. Then when they were done eating, they would crack open their fortune cookie, each reading their fortune. She was going to miss all of it.
Sighing, frustrated at the situation, Meredith made her way downstairs. What she found warmed her heart, and the longing, longing to be part of it, again filled her chest.
"I hope you guys are going to save me some cookies?" Meredith asked, saddling up next to Addison. Addison wrapped her arms around Meredith's waist, pulling her in close.
"We're going to make your favorite, mommy - peanut butter," Ally chimed it, rolling the cookie dough into little balls.
"Then, you better save me some," Meredith warned playfully.
Seeing that the girls were done, Addison grabbed the cookie sheet and placed it into the oven. She set the timer, not wanting to burn them. When her task was finished, she finally got a good look at Meredith and jealousy flared wildly in her like a wild, untamed fire.
"Whoa," Addison breathed. She may have been jealous of Finn for having the privilege to see Meredith this sexy, this hot but she couldn't deny it, Meredith looked beautiful. Meredith was wearing the blondes best low-rise jeans, a tight deep V-neck shirt and her loved but comfortable boots. It all made Addison's body feel like molten lava and had literally knocked the air out of her.
"You," Addison cleared her throat from its pubescent squeakiness, "You look great. Beautiful."
Meredith blushed; Ally and Ella exchanged confirming nods and knowing smirks. Ally nodded towards the living room, singling her and Ella should make their exit.
"Thank you," Meredith whispered, shyly.
"You must really like this guy," Addison asked trying to be nonchalantly about the whole thing. Although, inside she was dying a little inside.
Meredith shook her head. "Not really. I'm just going to make my mom happy, and to shut her up," Meredith laughed.
Addison laughed with Meredith. Inside she was silently cheering.
"No, really I'm just counting the minutes until the date ends. The sooner he gets here, the sooner it ends," Meredith confessed. Realizing what she said, she slapped her hand over her mouth in mortification. "Oh God, that was so not nice of me," Meredith mumbled against her hand. "I'm horrible to thinking that."
"Meredith," Addison laughed. "It's okay to think that way. You were pressured into this date. It's understandable how you feel. Just remember when you're done, I'll be waiting for you with a plate of cookies and some milk."
"I'll hold you to that, Montgomery," Meredith smirked.
It wasn't two minutes later that the doorbell rang and Finn was standing with flowers and a grin at the doorstep
"So, uh, what do you do for a living?" Finn asked, picking up a slice of pizza.
"I'm a neurosurgeon," Meredith answered. She picked up a slice herself, taking a rather large bite. "Oh, wow, Ella and Ally would so love this pizza. They're pizza fanatics and this one has everything they love. Extra cheese, not too much sauce, is their kind of pizza," Meredith said.
Finn looked at Meredith confused. He could have sworn Susan said her middle daughter had one daughter.
"I - I thought you only had one daughter," he stuttered.
"I do," Meredith confirmed. "Ella is Addison's daughter. I love and think of her as a daughter, so I guess you can say I have two daughters."
Finn nodded, understanding. He was surprised when Meredith started talking about Ally, Ella and Addison. Mainly Meredith spoke about Addison. He stared in awe at how Meredith spoke so passionately about her friend, how Meredith's eyes would brighten and her smile would widen as she spoke about the said woman. Thirty minutes of Meredith talking about Addison, he knew what he had to do. He waved down a waitress.
"Can we have a to-go box and the check, please?" he asked. He pulled out his wallet grabbing a ten throwing it on the table. When they waitress came back with a to-go box and the check, he handed her his credit card.
"Uh, are we going somewhere?" Meredith questioned Finn. She was secretly praying they weren't. Talking about Addison and her little girls made her miss them even more. All she wanted to do was go home and be with them.
"No, uh, listen. Clearly this was a mistake. You don't want to be here, I can see that." Finn looked at Meredith sadly. "You don't like me, and I know you know that. Liz was my wife. We were married for eleven year, and I loved her very much. I still do, but I'm ready to move on. You understand that, don't you?" Meredith nodded. "She wouldn't want me to be alone and unhappy. She would want me to find love, have a family and be happy. You have that and it's not with me."
"I - I don't understand," Meredith stuttered out.
"Did you know you spent forty minutes talking about Addison?"
Meredith gawked at him. Had she really spent that much time talking about Addison.
"Yeah, you have. And I was okay with that because it was truly beautiful how you spoke about her. Your eyes would become brighter and you would literally start to glow. Your whole being would. Your voice would go so soft, delicate. They way you spoke about her, it was as if she was your whole being, your sole reason for living, breathing."
Finn took a deep breath before continuing. "That point is, the point is that I used speak about my wife that way. You only speak that way if you're speak about a love you. And who I am to stand in the middle of some epic love story," Finn give Meredith a goofy grin.
"Finn, I - " Meredith halts in her speech. She doesn't know what to say. Sure, she's heard it from her friends, but to hear it from a stranger, a man she just met two hours ago, that's, that's eye-opening.
"It's okay, Meredith. Really. Let's get you home to your family."
When Meredith arrives home the lights are off and the logo of the DVD is playing on the plasma. Addison, Ally and Ella are nowhere to be found. She looks at the clock above the TV. 9:37 it reads. She knows that the girls are in bed; they have school tomorrow. So that leave one question: Where's Addison? She needs to see Addison.
On the way back home she decided she wasn't going to wait anymore. If she learned one thing from Derek's death and being a surgeon is that life's too short and you've got to live it to its fullest. She intends to do just that, with Addison and their little girls by her side.
Meredith turns off the DVD player and the TV before she makes her way upstairs. Addison can either be in one of the guest rooms or her room. She hopes for the latter. She checks in on the girls, kissing them both on the forehead before she makes her way to her room.
Her hopes become a reality when she sees Addison sleeping peacefully on her bed - clothes and shoes still on. She thinks that Addison gave the girls baths, read to them until the fell asleep and then, too tired to go downstairs, crawled into her bed.
Meredith walks the short journey to her closet to change out of her clothes and into her nightmare and into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. It gives her time to think about her next move.
As she stands in the doorway, she doesn't know what possessed her but soon she finds herself kneeling beside her bed. She sits there looking at Addison with loving, softening eyes, tracing every contour of Addison porcelain face. Addison's red-hair curtains over Addison's face, and Meredith gently rushes it away and then oh so softly caresses Addison's shoulders.
Addison," Meredith gently coaxes Addison out of her slumber. Meredith hearts melts when Addison purrs. "Come on, Addie. I need you to wake up. I need to talk to you."
Addison's eye, hazed with sleep and heavy in tiredness flutters open.
"Meredith," Addison murmurs. She blinks her eyes a couple of times to wake herself up more.
"Yeah, it's me," Meredith smiles. "Can you get up?"
Addison sits up, now aware of her surroundings. She then remembers. She remembers sending the girls up for their baths and then putting their hair into a French braid. Two chapters into Dairy of a Wimpy Kid both girls were out. She remembers suddenly having a bout of exhaustion and decided to crawl into Meredith's bed, letting Meredith scent relax her.
"How was your date?" Addison asks because it seemed like something someone would say after their friend came from a date.
"Good. Terrific, actually," Meredith grins. "He's a really nice guy and he'll make some other woman very happy, just not me."
Addison frowned. "How was that good, then?"
"Because he made me realize something. Something that's been on my mind but I've been too afraid to do anything about it."
Addison stomach starts to do summersaults. She knows something big, something epic and life changing is about to happen.
"This," Meredith whispers.
And before Addison could ask was this was, Meredith was leaning forward and pressing her lips to Addison's soft, yielding ones. Meredith kissed Addison gently, rejoicing when she felt Addison responding to her advances. Addison wrapped her arms around Meredith and pulled the blonde closer, crushing them together as they kissed with almost frighten intensity. Addison's tongue snaked into Meredith's mouth and massage their tongues together. Meredith's arms roamed up and down Addison's body, caressing the side of Addison's breast, her lowers back, her hips all the while matching kissing Addison back with equal passion.
They pulled back, oxygen much need. Meredith rested her forehead against Addison's, their chests heaving with hard breath, faces flush and lips swollen and red.
"We need to talk," Addison said, her voice thick and silky like honey.
Addison felt Meredith nodded against her forehead. "We do, and we will. But right now, I'm tired and just want to go to sleep. How about we call in tomorrow, huh? I have no surgeries scheduled tomorrow. We could take the girls to school and then come back and talk."
Addison thought about it. She had nothing really major to deal with. Naomi could handle her only two patients. And her and Meredith really need to talk.
"Okay," Addison agreed. "We'll talk tomorrow." Addison went to move off the bed when she felt a strong, smooth hand pull her back.
"Where do you think you're going? You don't want to sleep with me."
"I just, I thought it would be different now."
"Addison," Meredith sighed. "I want you to sleep with me. I sleep better with you next to me. I'm already for bed. Why don't you get yourself situated and then meet me in the middle. Deal?"
Addison nodded. She hesitated for a moment before she pressed a chaste kiss to Meredith lips. "Meet you in the middle."
Twenty minutes later, Addison was turning off the lights and crawling into bed next to Meredith. Meredith sighed contently when Addison wrapped her arms around her, pulling her closer to the heated body.
"Night, Addie."
"Sweet dreams, Mer,"
And sweet dreams they will be.
A/N: I won't be able to update for another two weeks. I'm going camping for my wife's birthday and won't be back until the ninth. Hope you all enjoyed that chapter.